Supreme Court

A Rare SCOTUS Case That Pitted Thomas Against Alito

Plus: Does Trump expect to lose the birthright citizenship case?

Damon Root | 4.23.2026 7:00 AM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google

Media Contact & Reprint Requests

(Illustration: Adani Samat, Photo: Pool/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom/Ricky Carioti/picture alliance / Consolidated News Photos)

Have you ever wondered which members of the U.S. Supreme Court vote together most often? Well, fear not, because SCOTUSblog's Kelsey Dallas crunched the numbers last year and determined the answer: Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito "agreed in 97% of all cases resolved with opinions from the court and in 100% of the closely divided (6-3 or 5-4) ones in the 2024-25 term." In the vast majority of recent cases, Thomas and Alito stood together.

But in a notable 6–3 decision that was issued yesterday, Thomas and Alito actually stood on opposite sides of the dispute. Is this the exception that proves the rule?

You’re reading Injustice System from Damon Root and Reason. Get more of Damon’s commentary on constitutional law and American history.

Facebook

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Email(Required)

SUBSCRIBE

The case is Hencely v. Fluor Corporation. It originated with a suicide bombing carried out by a Taliban operative at the U.S. Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Army........

© Reason.com